Hi! Welcome Back!

Today’s Daily ChallengeTake a moment to recall something funny that happened to you and a friend.

Although we all have a few laughs from time to time, there’s nothing like silly adventures from the past to bring the funny right to the surface today. When we recall fun times, it reconnects us to important people in our past and reminds us that there are little pleasures to be found in everyday life. This can motivate us to reach out to those around us, and to try and look for or create new pleasant memories.

Gee, didn’t I air enough dirty laundry about my Buckhead life yesterday? 😉

Midtown Brain Drain
I left work early yesterday and made my way to midtown. As planned I made it to IKEA, and after winding my way around the building wound up leaving with nothing. I have to admit that each time I walk/shop IKEA I yearn to change my living arrangement, move to a small studio, and simplify my life greatly.

After IKEA I fought westside traffic to make it to the iOS Developers Meetup at Strongbox West. The first topic discussed, scenes and segues, was very interesting to my nerd mind, though I have to admit the second topic, project management, held none of my interest.

I must have been brain dead leaving the meetup because I was in prime position to make first trip to the Atlanta Food Truck Park, but the idea didn’t cross my mind until I was finishing up my dinner elsewhere. That elsewhere was Fellini’s pizza in Candler Park, where I consumed one of the best slices of Sicilian pizza that I have ever eaten; which considering I spent my youth in New York is saying something.

The Jackmobile Is Making A New Noise
Dangen!

I think something is starting to fail with the air conditioning / blower motor / whatever. This morning there was a sound (seemingly) coming from the dashboard which sounded like a motor/gears struggling. The noise went away with highway driving, and returned briefly when I started up from a red light around Perimeter Mall. Had I been really paying attention to Car Talk over these past years I might be able to diagnose this problem better. Considering that I have just renewed the license plate for the Jackmobile (look for a personal project of “put new license plate on Jackmobile” Friday) as well as paid my auto insurance, I really would like to keep the Jackmobile for one more year without having to sink any money into repairs.

Stats & GoalsDailyCurrent Mood – okay, though I have a lot of things stirring in my mindCurrent Music – listening to today’s stage of the Tour de FranceWebsite Of The Day – If I’ve yet to link to A Show With Ze Frank then I’ve been remiss. If I have already linked to it, well, the go visit the site again.Mode Of Transportation To Work – my carExercise (b)Log – nothingMorning Weigh-In – not checking until after my birthday

July Goals
– Take at least one load of stuff from my house to Goodwill
– Post at least ten new photos during the month (let’s try this again)
– Lose at least two pounds (net weight loss)
– Finish two books (audio or otherwise, comic books do not qualify)
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month (may be a moot point as of today)
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
– Watch all of the classes in the 2011 Winter semester of Stanford’s CS193P (iOS Development) course
– Ride no fewer than 150 miles

2012 Goals [will be a little less fluid than last year]
– Get my weight under 200 pounds, or at least whittle myself back down to where wearing a 36″ pant size is comfortable
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than one one 10K
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
– Restore the ITP Estate to a condition where it can be put up for sale at any time
– Buy a new iPhone (iPhone 5?), a new iPad (iPad 3?), and MacBook Air [look, not all goals have to be altruistic]

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient and profitable programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– See more live concerts than I did in 2011
– Eat more pancakes
– Drive/Fly somewhere for a real vacation

10 Responses to Hi! Welcome Back!

Being a regular Car Talk listener, it sounds to me that there might be something like a leaf stuck in the vent/defrost assembly- the fact that it went away at highway speeds (due to the force of the air) should give you hope it’s something simple.

The current plan is to meet the guy at the rest stop very late at night and do the deal… sounds like we’re buying something illegal? Not quite. The horse shipper will be leaving upstate New York tomorrow morning and heading to Ocala, FL. Instead of coming through Atlanta, he’s going down I-95. While it saves him a couple hundred miles, it will cost us at least that much- and no proce break his shiping- what a rip off. We get to meet him somewhere near Savannah late tomorrow night. An adventure, for sure.

Georges tonight… I plan on hanging around and watching a bit of the TdF. Come on and join me!

well – we had an interesting pizza experience last night for my birthday.
It was girls night out for my birthday (since Allan had to work).
and we aer so wild & crazy, we went out for pizza. (No Jelly rolls kind of evening, sorry Paulie)
We went to Antico – a happening hip place over on Hemphill near GA Tech, right off 14th.
It is definitely a place you need to go with patience & an open mind, it is small, community tables, lots of noise, most of the seating is in the kitchen (so a little warm), but it is BYOB, so it is my kind of place. There was a sign taped to teh door that said no outside drinks, but everyone seems to ignore that.
And – the pizza was excellent, 1 size only, Large, & they really seem to frown on you not just ordering it straight off the menu.

I loved it, I will definitely go back (with Allan), but need to go at an off hour. We got there at a little after 6pm on a Tuesday & we managed to get a end of table for 7 of us fairly easily, but after that it wouldn’t have been so easy. If lots of people “looking” at you bothers you, wondering when you will vacate your seats, this isn’t your type if place. It bothered Sal a little, didn’t bother me at all.

Well if you did get a new car, your registration would carry you over until next year. That would give you a big break. My tag fees last year for the Escape were only about $100 less than my property taxes on the house.

It looks like things are finally settling down at the office. I was able to sneek out yesterday for a trip to the Minute Clinic…which was a waste of time. It did afford me the excuse to just head home instead of spending the rest of the day at the office.

Steve, how does Debbie do it? I can’t convice Jerry to foster a little Chi for two weeks, Debbie gets a horse? I’m doing something wrong.

well Paulie – you tell ITP-Reader Lisa to let me know when she will be in town, & we will set it up. I think we could have some fun, but we do need to be careful, accordign to Allan, the cops patrol that area, but if we start early enough, we might be able to get out of there under their radar.
I saw on a groupon (or whatever) there is a Nancy’s Pizza nearby in Buckhead too- some Chicago style pizza would be good to help with the drinking too! (in case you didn’t know, I do like me some pizza)

As for Antico – you just need to set it up with some people to meet up (like me & Allan, hint, hint), or, get it to go!

And – Allan decided to work an overtime shift today, so I’m single again! If I could talk a Cobb county person to roadtrip with me, I might go to George’s, but after the traffic last night getting downtown (I forget what traffic is like sometimes, never leaving OTP) I don’t know….. I HATE sitting in traffic.

LOL Martha, I don’t think I could get Steve to let us foster a dog, but more horses equal less mowing. I’m shooting for one more since babies need buddies.

Paulie, Martha is absolutely right. Now is the best time for a new car since you can skate by on the old car’s tag for the next year. That said hope it’s something simple and you stay car payment free.

I actually heard some program flipping radio channels the other day that right now is the best time to buy a 2012. The 2013s will be coming in soon, so they want to get rid of them & you get better deals while there are still is plenty of inventory of the 2012s. Trust me, I want a NEW car bad, but I want to get the house refinanced again first, plus, I don’t know what I’d want if I got a new car. I kind of want a Honda S2000, but they are only used, since they stopped making them a few years ago.
But – I say, fix your car, it will last………

BTW – Sunday morning 0800 – Sosabee Cycling park, we are riding – Allan & I are planning on the 68 mile route – Sarah & Sally are adding another 20 mile loop in somewhere in the middle so they plan to do 88……. the more the merrier.